You've Got That Something
by princesserinla
Summary: Sam cancels out on movie plans last minute, leaving Dean and Cas on an awkward, accidental first date.


"_Sick?_"

"Sick."

"How did you just _get sick_?"

Sam scoffed and replied in a congested sounding voice. "I don't know, Dean, maybe I, uh, got a virus? How do you _think _I got sick? The same way everyone else does. It just happened."

Dean felt a twinge of irritation, though he knew Sam couldn't really _help _that he had gotten sick. He sighed.

"Fine, I guess we'll have to go see the damn movie another—"

"Wait, what? You guys don't have to stay in just because I am."

Dean raised his eyebrows and actually laughed a little. "Really?" He glanced around the room, as though expecting to find Cas standing there and listening in, but there was nobody else around. Cas seemed to be much less adept at sneaking up on people now that his angel mojo was no more.

Dean turned back to Sam. "With Cas? Yeah, that sounds like a real party."

Sam replied with a skeptical look. "You act like you don't hang out with Cas already."

Dean shifted uncomfortably, glancing at his feet for a moment, trying not to voice what was really on his mind. His reasons for being hesitant about alone time with Cas were certainly not something that he was on board with discussing to Sam. "Well, yeah, it's just, you know how Cas is. I'll have to deal with all of his weird…Casisms on my own. He's always so weird in public."

But the real problem had nothing to do with 'Casisms'. It had more to do with the notion of going out to see a movie alone with Cas. Almost like a da—

"Dean, come on. The guy's been excited all week about this."

"Uh, he has?" The words 'excited' and 'Cas' didn't seem to go very well together, but he wouldn't doubt that Cas had been wanting to go to the theatre.

Sam chuckled. "He's never seen a movie in theatres before. Come on, Dean. It won't kill you."

Dean gave Sam a look that might imply otherwise. "What about you? Here alone while you're sick?"

"Seriously, Dean? I've been to _Hell _and you're worried about me being stuck alone with the flu? Dude, I'm _fine_. I'm probably just going to have some soup and sleep all day."

Dean struggled to find a fresh excuse _not _to go through with this, but he couldn't think of a thing. Nothing feasible, at least. Unless he wanted to tell Sam that he might _possibly _be starting to admit to himself that he was harboring feelings for the former-angel that didn't quite fit the description of 'just friends'.

Yeah, he'd serve another forty years in Hell before admitting any of _that_.

"Fine." He said, defeated. "I'll go see the friggin' movie. " Sam was probably right. It wasn't as though it were that big of a deal. Dean was just thinking too far into things. It was just Cas, and it was just a movie.

Just two guys casually seeing a movie together, nothing more than that.

He glanced back at Sam as he was heading back out to the main room in the bunker to get Cas, and thought for a moment that he seemed pretty damn cheerful for someone who was supposed to be sick…

"No, Cas, they don't have cheeseburgers! It's a movie theatre! They've got what's on the menu: the same thing as every movie theatre in the damn country."

Cas looked affronted at Dean's aggression. "I was only posing a question. Why do you seem so irritated today? Is it because you're worried about Sam? We can head back, if you would like."

"No, it's not because of—forget it. It's fine. I want to see the movie. Pick out what you want. Popcorn?"

Dean was feeling a little bit guilty for snapping at Cas. It wasn't anything he had done, after all.

But Dean felt nervous. Stupidly nervous.

He felt like he was in eighth grade again, taking a girl out on his first date and debating the entire night on whether he should hold her hand or not.

_Woah, what the fuck, slow down, Winchester._

This was not a date.

And he sure as hell wasn't going to be holding Cas's _hand._

Even as the thought flitted through his mind, Dean let his gaze linger for a moment on Cas's hand, hanging by his side, his digits slightly curled with fingertips barely brushing against the denim of his pants.

That was one thing that he was still getting used to, even after weeks of having the brand new human version of Cas around: seeing the other man in something other than that stupid trench coat and tie.

At first Cas had merely borrowed clothes from Dean, and Dean had guiltily put off taking Cas out shopping for a while, as he had gotten a secret sort of enjoyment in seeing his jeans hanging a bit loose around Cas's hips, plaid and Led Zeppelin t-shirts almost making Cas look like a different person.

Dean tapped his hand nervously against the side of his leg, feeling suddenly desperate to get into the darkness and silence of the movie theatre. There he could focus on the movie they were going to see, and let these agitating thoughts go to rest for a few hours.

He felt stupidly anxious about this _not-date, _despite the fact that the only person he was closer to than Cas was Sam. There shouldn't _be _anything to feel nervous about.

The thing was, other than that time a few years back that he had tried (and failed) to get Cas laid, the two of them had never just casually hung out on their own like this.

Of course they all had movie nights in the bunker, and sometimes found time between hunts to do fun things like going to the beach, or one time to a fair that had been in town, but it was usually the three of them: Dean, Cas, _and _Sam. Sometimes they were accompanied by Charlie, or Kevin…but it was never just Dean and Cas.

But still…it wasn't as though he and Cas weren't close to each other—_achingly _close, sometimes. After all, Dean would regard Cas as his best friend before anyone else.

But there was something that didn't sit well with that label to Dean, and he knew exactly why.

He had never actually referred to Cas as his 'best friend' in speech before, and he felt as though the words would leave a bad taste in his mouth.

'Friend' just didn't seem to do justice to the relationship he shared with Cas. Family, certainly, but even then…Dean knew that wasn't how he felt.

He thought it had started back when Cas had been working with Crowley—the _betrayal _and _hurt _that he had felt upon discovering Cas's dishonesty had been a big eye opener.

And then when he had thought that Cas had died for good…the way his heart had lifted when he had found out that Cas _wasn't _dead…and then purgatory, and everything that had happened afterwards…Well, it was getting difficult to ignore it. To ignore what he had _really _meant when he spoke the words '_I need you_' in a flurry of desperation months ago…

Dean felt uncomfortable thinking about it, and he had just realized that Cas was giving him a rather piercing look as he stood there waiting with the popcorn, two drinks, a plate of nachos, and a pair of pretzels all somehow balanced in his arms.

"Jesus, Cas, hungry much?" Dean said, unaware until that moment exactly how much food Cas had just gotten.

Cas stared down at the food and back to Dean, clearly in his usual state of bafflement. "Yes, I am hungry. Why would I have gotten food if I wasn't?"

Dean couldn't help but laugh. He was dumb for being nervous. This was _Cas_, after all. The same Cas he had always known.

"C'mon, let's pick out seats before all of the good ones are taken."

Dean relieved Cas the burden of his half of the food, and lead the way into the theatre, where the trailers were just beginning to run.

They picked out a seat near the back where there were fewer people around, and settled into the chairs, spreading their food out on their laps.

As soon as they had gotten situated, the last trailer came to a close. The noise of dying conversation and a few urgent hushes momentarily filled the theatre before the movie started up, the crowd falling silent.

Dean had always enjoyed Star Trek, so this was a movie that he had really wanted to see, and he certainly didn't see any reason for Cas not to enjoy it.

What he _hadn't _been anticipating, however, was the fact that Cas, having never seen a movie in the theatre before, might not be exactly savvy when it came to movie theatre etiquette.

It wasn't five minutes into the movie when Cas, making no attempt at keeping his voice quiet, voiced a question.

Dean bristled at first. He had completely forgotten to explain how movie theatres operated to Cas, and if anybody had a habit of talking during movies, it was Cas. He could never keep his questions and comments to himself during a movie for much longer than ten minutes, something that Dean always found funny, and Sam found aggravating.

Dean was just turning to Cas, opening his mouth to explain to him that he had to be quiet, when someone else got there first.

A girl sitting in the row in front of them turned around, loudly shushing Cas with an annoyed expression on her face.

Cas, of course, had no idea what he had done wrong and simply cocked his head, staring at the girl in a state of confusion.

Dean normally hated it when people talked in movie theatres, but this was a little bit funny.

"I'm sorry, did something I said upset you?" He asked the girl politely.

"Yeah, some of us are trying to watch the movie, smartass." She replied in a sharp whisper, only proving to confuse Cas even further.

"Is that not why everyone is here? To watch the film? I'm afraid I don't understand what the problem is."

The girl clearly thought that Cas was making fun of her in some way, and she looked livid.

"Sorry, he's uh…foreign. Or just weird." Dean said quickly, stepping in before Cas made the situation worse and got them kicked out.

He leaned in towards Cas, speaking quietly so only he could hear.

"Cas, you can't _talk _during the movie. There are other people here."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"It's—you know how Sammy always get's mad at you for talking during the movie? It's like that—but the whole theatre. They're trying to pay attention, and if you keep talking, it's distracting."

"Oh." Cas said, still looking a bit lost on the subject, but he didn't talk after that, instead he kept his eyes locked on the screen.

Dean had certainly been excited to see this movie, but now that he was there in the movie theatre, he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Cas.

Even when he tried to turn back to the screen, he kept catching himself glancing sideways, hoping to catch Cas's reaction to whatever was going on. His expression changes were subtle, but Dean knew Cas well enough to know when he was confused, intrigued, sad…

That was something Dean would never admit. This wasn't the first time he had trouble keeping his eyes on the screen when watching a movie or something on television with Cas.

Cas's attention was always so rapt when watching film, even if he did talk a lot, and Dean always enjoyed reading how Cas reacted.

Okay, so maybe that was a little bit weird. But Cas watched him a lot too, right?

Maybe that didn't exactly make it better. After all, Cas was just like that. He didn't really have any shame. Dean had shame. Maybe too much of it, sometimes.

Dean's eyes were drawn once again to Cas's hand, resting in an almost inviting fashion on the single armrest between the two of them. Be dammed whoever designed movie theatre seats that way.

With more effort than it should have required, Dean tore his eyes from Cas, trying to focus on the movie and keep the reigns on his straying thoughts. He didn't have much success.

The movie ended far too soon, and Dean had to end his observations of Cas in favor of the much more subtle option of listening to him ramble about the movie.

Sometimes it surprised him how much Cas could talk, but then again Dean supposed that he had been bottling up all his questions and opinions through the past two hours, and now he had to get it all out.

Cas had enjoyed it and Dean was glad.

He poised all sorts of questions, and expressed his interest in finding Spock as a slightly relatable character.

Dean nodded, answering Cas's questions in vague and offhand manner. He kept finding himself distracted, his eyes tracing back down to Cas's left hand. The skin on his palm and fingers was much smoother than on Dean's, Jimmy having lived a life that was far less hands-on until Cas had taken up residence.

There was dirt under his nails and Dean didn't even know why he was _noticing _things like this and he felt like a fifteen year old boy with the way he kept wondering what his fingers would feel like laced between Cas's.

Even when it came to women Dean wasn't really into hand-holding. It was so highschool that it almost made him sick.

"Dean?" Cas questioned, clearly taking notice of Dean's wavering attention. He followed Dean's gaze, staring down at his own hand as though he were worried that something was wrong with it.

"Sorry. Didn't get much sleep last night so I—" But he didn't really have an excuse and was thankful when they reached the car so he could busy himself with unlocking the driver's side door, taking longer than he usually did because he could feel Cas's scrutinizing eyes following him.

The Impala revved happily when Dean started the engine, and he immediately flipped on the radio, desperate to avoid any awkward questions from Cas. The volume was already cranked up loud, and the music filled the confines of the car in an instant.

-_say to me, _

_You'll let me be your man_

_And please, say to me—_

"Are you friggin' kidding me?" Dean growled, a bit louder than he had intended as he slammed his palm into the button, changing from the oldies radio station that had been on to the tape he had last listened to, silently cursing John and Paul for that stupid song.

"Is everything okay, Dean?"

"What? Yes. I just—I don't really like the Beatles' earlier stuff." He swallowed hard, determined not to look at Cas though he could feel those blue eyes bearing into him. "Too happy and lovey-dovey for me. Not really into that."

Cas didn't respond and Dean couldn't help but glance over to see that baffled expression that he had grown to love so much. He felt a bit warmed by it despite the inner turmoil he had been facing throughout the day.

"The band. The Beatles. I thought I had you listen to them…? No?" Obviously not, judging by the unchanging look on Cas's face.

Dean gestured to Cas's seat. "Grab the box of tapes under your seat—I think I have _Let It Be _in there. I don't listen to them much, but…"

But it seemed like the sort of thing that Cas would like, and while Dean very rarely gave anybody else an option when it came to the music played in his car, he felt he could make a tiny exception for Cas.

They rode the rest of the way back to the bunker, Dean feeling calmed once more as he told Cas what he knew about the Beatles as the music played.

Much to his satisfaction, Cas did seem to enjoy the music, and when they finally arrived back home, he allowed the other man to take the tape inside, figuring that they could probably find a cassette player inside if Cas wanted to listen to it more. He didn't listen to that tape much, anyway.

Cas was staring down at the tape as they exited the car, heading inside, and Dean found himself drawn to Cas's hands once more, the pads of his thumbs sliding over the plastic surface as it was turned over in his hands, a look of almost childlike curiosity on his face.

"I'm, uh, going to go check on Sammy." Dean said once they made it inside, the uncomfortable feelings swirling around in his head again. He was going to need to take some time to clear his mind after such a weird day.

Cas nodded. "That's a good idea. I'm going to go see if I can locate a tape player." He turned to walk away, and Dean wasn't sure what it was that possessed him to move so suddenly, reaching out to take the other's hand.

"Cas, uh," He stammered, his eyes flickering down where there hands had met. He kept the contact brief, immediately loosening his grip as Cas turned around, though he let his fingertips brush against Cas's while his hand dropped back to his side. "You…you liked the movie, then?"

"Yes…"

"Good…well…maybe, next week, or something…maybe I'll take you to see another one."

Dean's heart leaped into his throat when he saw Cas's lips curve into a small smile.

"Yes, I would like that. I enjoyed today."

Dean was glad to find he could speak, though there was little coherency. "Well. Good. Alright. I'm…going to go check on Sammy."

Sam seemed suspiciously better that night, despite how ill he had claimed to be earlier that day. He also seemed to have an awful lot of questions about the day, very little of them centering around how good the movie was.

Once Dean finally grew weary of Sam's line of questioning, Dean claimed he was tired and wandered off to his room, though he figured it was going to be several hours before he finally fell asleep.

The warmth of his mattress was inviting nevertheless, and as he lied down, closing his eyes with his hands behind his head, he could hear muffled music coming from Cas's room.

It was a moment before he was able to pinpoint the song as the music was quiet, but after a moment he realized that it was _Across the Universe_.

Cas must have found a tape player.

Dean smiled to himself, pleased that Cas had taken his recommendation seriously, and considered that maybe instead of another movie he'd take Cas out to a flea market or something and see if they could find some records he might like.

That was the thought that he fell asleep to, the lyrics of the song he didn't let finish when they had gotten into the car ringing in his ears, though he had never much cared for it until that day.

_It's such a feeling that my love,_

_I can't hide_

_I can't hide_

_I can't hide_


End file.
